A Conversation with Comics Legend Jerry Robinson
Q: As a 17 year-old student at Columbia, you joined the Batman team just two months after it was launched. You created the Joker and co-created Robin the following year. How did your undergrad studies contribute to the creation of these characters?
A: The early comics were influenced by villains of the day – gangsters, and bank robbers – John Dillinger, Al Capone and others, with an occasional mad scientist. I wanted to create someone worthy of Batman, a Dickensian or Shakespearian villain – bizarre and memorable. From my studies of literature I learned that all great heroes had an antagonist and that great characters have a contradiction in terms, as would a villain with a sense of humor. That led to the Joker's persona and iconic image derived from the Joker playing card. I named Robin after my literary hero Robin Hood and designed his costume after his portrayal by the great illustrator N.C. Wyeth.
Q: While you didn’t have a formal art education, you went on to have a long and fruitful art career. How did you learn the fundamentals of comic book art and illustration, and develop your own style(s)?
A: I avidly studied the best cartoonists and illustrators. I haunted museums and art galleries. But most importantly, I learned to draw by endless drawing. You can't learn how to drive a car without driving, and so it goes with drawing. I also learned a lot from my years teaching at School of Visual Arts, New School, and Parsons School of Design.
Q: After enjoying a very successful early career in super hero comics, you expanded your scope to include book illustration and photography. What inspired you to delve into these other arenas?
A: Book illustration followed naturally from my experience as a cartoonist. I illustrated over thirty books on history and science, as well as biographies. I enjoyed the luxury of time for the research and drawing that I didn’t have under the pressure of deadlines in the comics and political cartooning. Photography was always a passion of mine and as a photographer I was greatly influenced by the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson. My Canon and Rolei were constant companions in my travels here and abroad. My work appeared in a number of photography magazines and I had two one-man exhibitions.
Q: Tell us about your award-winning career as a political cartoonist.
A: I was always a political animal. For 32 years I did two syndicated daily cartoons of political/social satire, Still Life and Life with Robinson. It was both a challenge and a privilege to have my take on events of the day appear daily in the press here and abroad. I admire the work of Jules Feiffer, Art Spiegelman and Ed Sorel. For style, I tried to do something unique and cutting-edge.
Q: With the creation of your own syndicate in 1977, you went global before “global” was a household word. What motivated you to create Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate (now CartoonArts International)?
A: In my travels abroad to over forty countries, I met many of their great artists and political cartoonists. My goal was to bring to the U.S. press the best work from around the world – first in my book, The 1970s: Best Political Cartoons of the Decade (McGraw Hill), and then in syndication for the first time in the U.S. I felt it was more important than ever to bring to American readers political opinion from around the world.
Q: In 1992, the UN sponsored the Conference on Environment and Development (known as the Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro, and in 1993, the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna. What was your role in these historical conferences?
I was asked by the UN to curate the exhibitions by the world's best cartoonists, as well as one for the conference in Cairo on Population and Development, and Sketching Human Rights in New York for the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 2007. These cartoons and graphics reflected the concerns around the world about vital issues.
The UN knew from past projects we had worked on together, that Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate could assemble the work of the greatest graphic artists from around the world. The first Human Rights exhibition was also co-sponsored by the Austrian government and Amnesty International. In addition, I covered the UN exhibitions abroad for the newspaper Terra Viva.
Q: How were you involved in getting Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel's rights restored as creators of Superman?
Shuster and Siegel were close friends (and friendly competitors) of mine while I was doing Batman. Years later when I learned of their plight – they had lost the rights to their creation and were nearly destitute – I contacted them and offered my assistance. Together with cartoonist Neal Adams, we negotiated a settlement with Warner Communications for a lifetime annuity and very importantly, their names restored as creators of Superman.
More on Jerry Robinson:
Sept. 10 - Wired.com - Review and slide show
Sept. 30 - Village Voice – interview and review
Oct. 4 - Comic Book Resources – interview
Oct. 4 - New York Times - interview